We produce our Drought Plan every five years. The Plan sets out how we’ll manage our water resources in response to drought events. Our Plan covers both South West Water and Bournemouth Water following the merger in April 2016.

In 2017, we reviewed our previous Drought Plans and updated them to produce a new Draft Drought Plan, which we submitted to Defra. The Plan was prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the Environment Agency and describes how we intend to ensure that we can continue to supply the essential needs of our customers in the event of a drought. It also explains how we would aim to balance the needs of our domestic and commercial customers, the economy and the environment.

Following permission being granted by Defra, the new Draft Drought Plan was published for public consultation in October 2017. After the public consultation period closed we prepared a Statement Of Response for review by Defra, which outlined the changes we made to the Plan in response to the representations we received.

Our 2018 Drought Plan has now been finalised and can accessed by following the link below: